In 1854, Alfred Domett suggested that the port town he was surveying be named
Napier after Sir Charles Napier. When he laid out the first town plan of
Napier, he named the town's principal roads, streets and a square after the most
prominent men in British Indian history. At the time, he also suggested that a lighthouse be
built on a reserve on Bluff Hill which overlooks Napier. 107

Later during a lighthouse survey, John Blackett,
Marine Engineer and Captain Robert Johnson, Nautical Advisor selected Napier as
a site for a coastal lighthouse. 20

It would be the first lighthouse to be erected on the
east coast of the North Island. Originally the lighthouse was to have been sited
on
Lighthouse Road at the top of Bluff Hill in the reserve set
aside by the Hawkes Bay Provincial Council, but instead the light was mounted on the
local gaol on
Coote Road across the gully in the Goal Reserve. 20

The light was first lit on 5 January 1873 and displayed a fixed white light.
The light was powered by the town gas supply (the first in the country to
do so) and the first keepers were
actually the prison wardens. 20

During a parliamentary debate of 1897, it was noted the lighthouse was in the
wrong location and should be in the reserve on Bluff Hill. And being a harbour
light it should have been maintained by the Harbour Board. It was also noted a
lantern for Cape Kidnappers had been purchased for £2000 but local shipmasters
felt that a light on East Cape was more urgently required and the Napier light
would be in range of a light on Cape Kidnappers.

In 1915 the lighthouse status was changed to a harbour light and administration duties were taken over by the Napier Harbour Board.
The light was also changed from a fixed white light to an occulting white
light. 20

By the late
1930's, the lighthouse was barely visible amongst the lights of Napier city and
the Harbour Board proposed moving the light up to the originally proposed site
in the reserve on Lighthouse Road. 20

However during World War II, the light was extinguished so nothing
was done. However gun emplacements were erected in the reserve on Bluff
Hill. 20

After the war, in 1945 another proposal was made to move the light to
Cape Kidnappers or again, up to the reserve. But before anything could be done,
improvements were made to the west-shore beacons in the harbour and Napier
lighthouse was decommissioned. 20

In 1948 the lighthouse was demolished by the prison authorities. 20

The prison is now open to visitors and the reserve developed into a park with
memorials.